


Aang's Legacy

by talibusorabat (hermitcave)



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-28
Updated: 2012-03-28
Packaged: 2017-11-02 15:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/370323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermitcave/pseuds/talibusorabat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chief Bei Fong reacts to the news that the Avatar is staying in Republic City, and Tenzin struggles with what this means.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aang's Legacy

The door did not slam open so much as it fled fear. One did not stand in the path of an irate Bei Fong.

So much for Korra’s meditation lesson. The teenager did not unhappy with the interruption, though her dislike of the chief of police was quite evident. 

Tenzin did his best to smile. “Lin, you should have told me you were coming! Would you care to join us for dinner?”

“You promised me she would leave, Tenzin.” Lin made no secret of her dislike either, the difference being she didn’t like anybody.

The teenager straightened and snarled. “You can’t tell me where to live! It’s a free city!”

“It’s my city,” Lin snapped back.

“Who died and made you Firelord?” Korra asked.

Tenzin gestured for her to be silent, and thankfully - for once - the young Avatar listened.

“I believe that Korra has been kept sequestered for too long,” he told Lin. “The Avatar is not meant to be kept from the world. She is meant to be a part of it.”

“It’s the South Pole, not the Spirit Realm,” Lin countered. 

“I’m right HERE!” Korra protested. Tenzin discretely whacked her with a blast of air to shut her up. Bending masters didn’t simply kick people in the shins.

“The South Pole is almost as isolated,” he said. “Republic City is my father’s legacy. This is where the Avatar belongs.”

Korra radiated tension behind him,  clearly getting ready to throw a few fireballs if Lin didn’t give up. Lin’s eyes slid over them, assessing the situation.

“I need to speak to Tenzin alone,” she said.

Korra crossed her arms. “No way. You’re talking about my future. I deserve to be here.”

“Please,” Lin said through clenched teeth, taking Tenzin by surprise. Korra didn’t know how big a concession this was from the chief of police.

“Go, Korra,” he said gently. “I promise, we won’t make any decisions without you.”

The teenager hesitated, then stomped out.

“Close the door behind you,” Tenzin reminded her. 

The door slammed shut in response.

He sighed and sat, gesturing for Lin to join him. “Teenagers,” he said. “I don’t remember any of us being this difficult and moody.”

“Clearly your mind is failing you.” There was the smallest trace of humor in her expression, quickly gone. She settled on the ground across from him, somewhat awkwardly. Most of Republic City had adopted the use of chairs, but Air Temple Island remained traditional.

“You know she can’t stay here.”

Tenzin had known she wouldn’t like his change of heart, and had prepared his arguments accordingly. “She will live on Air Temple Island with me,” he told her. “Her time in the city itself will be minimal.”

Lin snorted. “You think that makes a whit of difference?” she asked. “Tension between the benders and the Equalists is bad enough as it is. You might as well throw a koi fish to the pirranas.”

“The Avatar’s job is to restore balance and create peace,” Tenzin argued. “I believe Korra can heal the rift between the benders and the Equalists.”

“By doling out vigilante justice?” Lin’s eyes narrowed. “We need a diplomat, Tenzin, not a child who bends before she thinks.” There was the shortest of all pauses before she added, quietly, “We need Aang.”

Tenzin closed his eyes. After seventeen years, he could think and talk about his father with nothing more than a dull ache, but sometimes the reminder of his loss still stabbed through his heart. 

“How do you even look at her?”

He and Lin had their problems, but the one thing that connected them was Aang. Aang had been the master of balance. While many times his friends would get lost in the monumental task of rebuilding the world, Aang never forgot to make time for the children. If he couldn’t drag Zuko or Toph away from their work, he would play with them himself. He had been family to all of them. Lin was serious and surly, but Tenzin knew she loved his father almost as much as he did.

“Korra is not my father,” he said. “But his spirit lives in her. There is a comfort in that.”

Lin shook her head, clearly not understanding. She knew the mechanics of how the Avatar cycle worked, but she was not spiritual. She could not take the same comfort.

“Amon’s people want to break the Avatar cycle,” she said, returning to the point at hand. “No more Avatar, no more benders. They won’t just try to kill her. Anyone she meets, anyone she cares about, will be a target. I can’t protect her.”

“The Order of the White Lotus will guard her,” Tenzin said.

“You mean the ninnies who let her sail halfway across the world?” Lin asked. 

She had a point. “And I will take full responsibility for her,” he added. 

“I’m not questioning your responsibility, Tenzin,” Lin said. “But it only takes a spark for this city to burn. My city.” The fact that Tenzin was involved in the city government while living apart on Air Temple Island continued to be a sore point with her. 

“I know it’s a risk,” he said. “But I think it’s what my father would have wanted.”

That was the killing blow. Lin scowled at him, but she could make no more argument. Standing, she said “I expect your full support when I ask the Council for the money to hire more officers. I’m not going to be caught with my pants down when this blows up.”

 

 

After Lin left, he sought out Korra, and found her in the backyard, putting on a demonstration for Ikki and Meelo. She had created a loop of water through which sparks of fire leapt through like rabiroos at the circus. It was a remarkable display, exactly the kind of trick his father would perform.

“Tenzin!” The loop of water closed around the last flame and snuffed it out. “Is that witch gone?”

“Chief Bei Fong,” he said pointedly, “is making security arrangements. You’re going to make an official speech to announce that you are now living in Republic City.

“WOOHOO!” She grabbed Ikki and Meelo and spun them around in a huge, excited hug. He remembered his father picking him up and spinning him around, making him feel like he could fly before he had actually learnt how to do so.

 

 

He sat on the back porch, watching Korra play with the children after giving the solemn promise that real training would start tomorrow. He heard Pema’s approach long before he felt her warmth as she settled beside him.

“So you told Korra she’s staying,” she said.

“Again,” Tenzin said.

“You didn’t tell her about the rest of what Lin said, did you?”

“How do you know - were you listening in?” He scowled, but Pema just smiled. Unable to stay angry, he sighed. “No. I’m not sure how, really.”

“Don’t.” He was surprised by the hardness in his normally easy-going wife. “She’s just a kid. She shouldn’t have to deal with all this.”

“She’s seventeen,” Tenzin said. “And she’s the Avatar. It’s her destiny to deal with this.”

“She’s spent seventeen years training in a frozen compound,” Pema said. “That’s not what your father wanted for her. He wanted her to have a childhood, the childhood he didn’t get to have. That none of our parents got to have.”

“Considering the state of Republic City, I’m not sure we have a choice,” Tenzin told her.

“Of course we do. Look, maybe it’s because I’m not a bender, and until I met you I didn’t even know any benders, but I can’t help thinking… maybe we shouldn’t put such great weight on the Avatar’s duty. Why should one person carry so much responsibility?”

“That’s just the way things are,” Tenzin said.

“This isn’t the era of Azulon,” Pema said. “Why can’t we do things differently? I mean, that’s why your father built Republic City. We’re not four nations anymore. We’re something new.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So what, the role of the Avatar should be meaningless?”

“I’m just saying, you shouldn’t force a destiny on her,” Pema said. “Give her space to figure out what being the Avatar means for her.”

“She’s my father’s legacy,” Tenzin said.

Pema put her hand on his. “But so are you.”


End file.
